> Is it, and does it apply here?
Yes, price movements are how buyers and sellers in the market know the supply and demand curves are moving.
> The employee is the seller who would declare the price.
Both buyers and sellers can declare the price they are willing to buy and sell at. But that’s not important, only the price the transaction clears at is important for others to know.
> Flipping those roles is like telling customers to name their price when they enter a store.
Price transparency has nothing to do with whom puts out the first price in the negotiation. It’s only about knowing what other transactions cleared at so you have an accurate idea of supply and demand. Also, people looking for long term employment is not analogous to purchasing a low cost item in a store.
> Customers would pay as little as possible, such businesses would fail to keep losses at bay, and other businesses that don't behave this way would survive.
This is not true. Depending on supply and demand, buyers or sellers can have the upper hand in a transaction and who is naming the price first has nothing to do with which price is accepted by both parties, and certainly does not predict what business survives and not.
> When employees don't name their value upfront, they're the ones acting like a shady business that wants customers to guess the price, since an unknowledgeable patron is likely to overpay.
Bartering on price is not shady business. People do it all the time with large purchases, such as cars, real estate, wages and in poorer countries, even clothing and food. When employees don’t name their value, they’re simply might be doing so because they don’t have the clear upper hand in the negotiation, and are not willing to upset the other party. Or they want to let the other party name their price, and go from there. There’s nothing wrong with various negotiating strategies.
What is clear, is that 90% of people have very little information of supply and demand for the labor market compared to employers, so they obviously are at a disadvantage. The solution is websites like levels.fyi, that even the playing field so employees know how the supply and demand curves are actually moving.